Tag: shirley

How popular is the baby name Shirley in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Find out using the graph below! Plus, see baby names similar to Shirley and check out all the blog posts that mention the name Shirley.

The graph will take a few seconds to load, thanks for your patience. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take nine months.) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.

You must enable Javascript for the popularity graph to render!

Popularity of the Baby Name Shirley

Number of Babies Named Shirley

Born in the U.S. Since 1880

Posts that Mention the Name Shirley

Next Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, 30-year-old identical (and alliterative) triplets Leila, Liina, and Lily Luik of Estonia are expected to run the women’s marathon. This will make the “Trio in Rio,” as they call themselves, the first set of triplets to compete in an Olympics.

In comparison, about 200 sets of twins have competed in the Olympics over the years. Here are some of the Olympic twins with similarly alliterative names:

The registrar of Providence, Rhode Island, published a series of documents listing all “of the names of persons deceased, born and married in the city of Providence” during years 1866, 1867 and 1868. The series may have been longer, but these are the only documents I could find online.

I’ve finally finished creating a set of rankings using one of the documents — 1867. But before we get to the rankings, here are some stats:

1,547 babies were born in Providence in 1867, going by the number of babies listed in the document itself. According to the document’s introduction, though, the number is 1,625. Not sure what to make of this discrepancy.

1,431 of these babies (713 girls and 718 boys) had names that were registered with the government at the time of publication. The other 116 babies got blank spaces. Either their names hadn’t been registered yet, or they hadn’t been named yet, or perhaps they died young and never received a name.

The ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names in the girl’s top 20 is about the same today as it was 100 years ago, though the ratio did change a bit mid-century.

(In contrast, there’s been a steady increase in the number of Biblical-origin names among the top boy names.)

Here’s the color-coded table — Biblical names are in the yellow cells, non-Biblical names are in the green cells, and several borderline names (which I counted as non-Biblical) are in the orange cells:

27%-73% is remarkably similar to both 25%-75% (smaller 2014 sample) and 30%-70% (1914 sample).

So here’s the question of the day: If you had to choose all of your children’s names from either one group or the other — Biblical names or non-Biblical names — which group would you stick to, and why?

The Shirley Club, exclusively for people named Shirley, was created in Australia in 1996 by a woman named Shirley Brown.

More than 120 Shirleys showed up at the inaugural Shirley convention in Alice Springs in 2001, establishing a Guinness record for the most people with the same name in one place. (The record was soon broken by a Maria gathering Spain, then by a Mohammed gathering in Dubai.)

According to the Shirley Club USA FAQ, people with alternative spellings of the name are also eligible for membership: “Even if you spell it Shirlee, Shirlie or some other unique way, if you look up when someone calls out “Shirley”, then you qualify!”

I’m no stats whiz, but Nathan Yau of FlowingData and David Taylor of Prooffreader are, and each has taken a stab at determining/ranking the trendiest baby names of all time in the U.S.

The FlowingData list of trendiest baby names was published last year. Nathan analyzed girl names and boy names separately. Here are his top 5 for each gender:

Trendiest Girl Names

Trendiest Boy Names

1. Catina
2. Deneen
3. Aaliyah
4. Allisson
5. Katina

1. Jalen
2. Tevin
3. Elian
4. Demond
5. Mcarthur

The Prooffreader list of trendiest baby names was published earlier this month. David analyzed all the names together (his overall top 100 was 80% girl names, 20% boy names). Here are his top 5 for each gender (with placement on the original list in parentheses):

Linda is clearly the winner here. Linda’s spike in 1947 is like the perfect storm of spikes — the name was already on the rise, and then the song “Linda” became a huge hit right at the beginning of the post–WWII baby boom.

(If the song had been released just one year earlier — which is theoretically possible, as it was written in 1942 — the Linda spike might have been even bigger, as the largest one-year increase in births in U.S. history happened between 1945 and 1946.)

The song “Linda” was created by songwriter Jack Lawrence at the request of his attorney, Lee Eastman, who wanted a song written for his 5-year-old daughter.

Being a good friend, I obliged and wrote a song for five-year-old Linda. When I made the rounds of publishers I met with frustration. Most of them like everything about the song but the name Linda. “Why Linda?” they would ask. “That’s not a popular name”. One guy said: “Call it Ida — after my mother-in-law and I’ll publish it”. I had to remind him there already was an “Ida — Sweet as Apple Cider!” Another maven suggested the name Mandy. He felt that had a more musical ring than Linda.

But Jack stuck with Linda, and the song made musical (and baby name) history.

And 5-year-old Linda Eastman also made musical history, in a sense, by marrying Beatle Paul McCartney in the late 1960s.

Trivia question of the day: Only one girl name ever decreased in popularity by more than 10,000 baby girls over a one-year period. Can you guess the name?

So, to help this latter group out, I scoured the web to find out what sorts of names people give to their cars.

Here’s a list of over 50 car names I found:

Abraham: “Next, we named the car. My husband said that if we were going to spend a week together, our family and this shiny automobile, it needed a name. And “Abraham” was christened.” -Whitney of Rookie Moms

Ailey: “Of course the first thing I did (after sucking in lungful of that luscious smell) was to name the car. Meet Ailey, my brandy-new, alien green Kia Soul.” -J Monkeys of Writing Secrets of 7 Scribes

Alfred: We took the new car on a road trip to test it out, during the trip we named the car “Alfred”. After the Alfred on Batman, Batman’s Butler. Since we call Hudson “Little Batman”, and the car does escort “Little Batman” around Alfred seemed like a perfect fit.” -Shannon of Bird a la Mode

Angus: “We named the car “Angus,” after Angus Hudson, the butler played by Gordon Jackson in the long-running ITV/PBS series “Upstairs, Downstairs.”” -Kit of Kit Foster’s CarPort

Apollo: “Thank you Apollo for not having a regular trunk. Yes, my car is named Apollo, as in the space ship. Because my car reminds me of a space ship.” -Sammi of Running To Fit

Bianca: “Our new car is named Bianca della Carza. Clearly we went with Bianca because the car itself is white and since I speak Italian it allows me to pretend to speak it fluently. The “della Carza” was added because a local news caster is named “Bianca de la Garza” and as soon as we named the car Bianca the della Carza followed naturally out of our mouths as though we had been fully indoctrinated by our TV watching. Laughing, we decided to go with it. Bianca is in the garage now. It is still hard to believe that we bought a new car, said good bye to Zoe, and weaved our lives together even more all in a single day.” -Melissa of foster & feed

Bono: “Bono is my car. I named him Bono because I had a crush on Felix, my brother’s friend, who happens to be obsessed with U2. Somehow, I thought naming my car Bono would increase my chances. Sadly, I must admit t it did nothing for my chances.” -Anya of Anya Violetta

Bruce: “My car is named Bruce. I’m really not going to elaborate here, but it’s got something to do with the fact that some people seem to think it’s a Transformer and that it, being an inanimate object, actually has a sexual orientation. I’m leaving this one alone.” -The Mishap of Confessions of a Walking Mishap

Charlene: “I was NOT about to let anyone but a professional — thus excluding myself — touch my Charlene. (Yes, my car is named Charlene.)” -Sarah Piper of Bon Appetit Management Company

Christina: “My phone’s name is Verity Loud. My last phone’s name was George. My computer’s name is Francis Lenovo. My brother’s computer’s name is Opal. Our car is named Christina, but we call her variations thereof (Katrina, Chris, Christy, etc). Yep. I live in a family that names their technology. But are we so weird? Why do we give stuffed animals and dolls to children? Why do we own pets?” -Phoeg of Ramber’s Light

Dorothy: “Why Dorothy? Well, 1) because her previous owner was an elderly woman who recently passed away, and I named the car in homage to my favorite Golden Girl, Dorothy, to honor the memory of all the awesome old women out there. Also, 2) she is named because “there is no place like home” and Dorothy is the closest thing to “home” I have right now. She is mine, I own her, and if all else fails me in the next few weeks or months while I search for a more permanent “home”, at least I will have Dorothy.” -Emily of GreenDesignCollective Blog

Eeyore: “I was so worried about my car being damaged, but it looks like the trees overhead stopped Eeyore from getting pummeled. Yes, my car is named Eeyore :)”
-Lisa Boland of Bitchin’ Kitsch ‘n’ Kitchen

Eleanor: “I have this thing with my possessions. It may just be the weird side of me, but I embrace it. I have a habit of naming objects, such as cars, the remote control, and my coffee maker. For instance, my car is named Eleanor because the first letter of my license plate is an E and I love the song Eleanor Rigby. My dad’s truck is named Genevieve, because she seems like a classy lady. My boyfriend’s old red car was named Bertha, because she was a big lady. His new car is named Stella, because, really, why not? My laptop is named Scarlet because she has a red cover. My Keurig coffee maker is named Monica for no particular reason – I just happened to look at it and it was the first name that came into my mind on Christmas morning. And so when I bought my Blackberry Bold 9650 back in July, I knew she would need a name. She would be with me at all times of day. As I held her in my hands in the Verizon Wireless store for the first time, it was like the name came to me immediately. She was wrapped in a blue silicone case that would protect her from bumps and scratches. Her name would be Belle, like after bluebell flowers.” -Therese of Therese Zdazenski

Elenor: “Lucky me, lucky me, my wonderful husband surprised me with a brand new Honda CRV Sport in a lovely shade of sage green for our anniversary. It was hard to say good bye to my beloved and trusty Elliot my Honda Element, but I have made the transition rather quickly. The new car is named Elenor…works well with the existing nick name Ellie. Sounds a little silly, I know, but I have had a wonderful relationship with Elliot over the last few years and he’s taken me over 152,000 kms safely while I’ve been out and about. Elliot never let me down, always started on the coldest of winter days, was able to make it up Scenic Caves Road in the worst conditions and took me to the cottage (my favourite place in the world besides Collingwood) always a happy road trip. Elliot and I had a remarkable relationship. He will be missed, but I’m looking forward to a great relationship with Ellie, the sleek looking, smooth running new car in my life (with a fantastic sunroof).” -Julie Card of Out & About

Elphaba: “I just wanted to say thank you to all of the lovely people that suggested names for my new oven. I thought Glinda fit as our car is called Elphaba!” -Lorraine Elliott of Not Quite Nigella

Elvira: “My car is named Elvira (I know, I named her). Last year, I blogged about my car topless (she is a convertible) under the title – Elvira Topless!!!. The post included pictures me in my convertible. Since then, my blog has picked up a lot of traffic from men (well, some women too) searching the term Elvira topless. I have always found this funny and even blogged about it a second time under, Elvira Topless. As a result, my blog now ranks 3rd in Google results for “Elvira topless”.” -Tom Whittaker of Tom Whittaker’s Blog

FitzWilliam: “In fact, my car is named Fitzwilliam, after Mr. Darcy. Yes, I am aware of how pathetic that is. And I’m okay with this.” -Sharon of The Book Barbies

Fjodor: “Our car is named Fjodor. (Yes, of course after Dostojevskij). Just sayin’. :)” -Torunn of A Little Nouveau

Gracie: “I name inanimate objects. Example: My espresso machine is named Max. My car is named Gracie. And my iphone is named Florence.” -Danielle of Taking Notes…Coast to Coast

Hans: “I’ve never missed covered parking so much in my life! It was like the Snow Miser sharted all over Hans. (yes, my car is named Hans. Judge if you must.)” -Megan of Six One in Heels

Heather: “I am mad at Tyler for waking up my shopping jones though. Did you see the way those broad were ragging in that movie?! Luckily, Heather Hunter Honda (yea my car is named after a porn star – don’t ask) had a major crisis that put a serious dent in my pocketbook so I’m banned from the mall for now. I can still dream…” -Danielle of Songs in the Key of Life

Ivy: “My car is named Ivy. She’s my first and only car that I have.” -Pakou of Off the Front Porch

Izzy: “My car is named Izzy. The car before was Adam. My phone is Janice. My AC unit is Jasmine. I like to name inanimate objects.” -Rachel of lala Lists

Karmit: “I am a big fan of the Muppets. Our car is named Karmit and a friend played “Rainbow Connection” on his guitar for us during our wedding ceremony.” -Gary and Louise of Lone Star on a Lark

Linda: “We got so many fantastic submissions! After pouring over them all, we had to choose just one… Introducing Linda, our transportation, and our travel companion.” -The Dudes of Cig Cross Canada Tour

Linus: “Linus is my car. I named Linus, because as I stated before I am terrified he will magically explode, and so when I am driving home (no joke) I talk to him. We chat about traffic, sometime I am asking if he has a flat tire or if it’s just the road. It took a while for me to trust Linus, since my last vehicle Vern let his tire fly off on the freeway, Vern and I had a really shaky relationship after that. So much so, that I had to sell him.” -Miki of Becoming What I Always Was

Lola: “Owning a Corolla, I guess the reason why I named my car Lola is for my tag line “Lola the Corolla.” I thought it was funny… As for the other things I guess I just named them just to give them a personality, a character.” -Shawn Tripputi of San Jacinto Times Staff Blog

Lorraine: “Another thing you can see in these pictures is my bike. Her name is Alexandra, “Lexie” for short, and I’m very excited for springtime rides. For your information, my camera is named Pepe (as in Pepe le Pew, the romantic skunk) and my car is named Lorraine. Do you name inanimate objects? It’s fun; you should give it a try.” -Sara of SK{ru}SH

Lucille: “Those of you who are familiar with the now-cancelled best-TV-show-ever Arrested Development should notice a resemblance to the car that was driven in the show by Lucille Bluth. While I could not find a picture of the car itself, I can provide a picture of Lucille, for whom my car is named.” -Brian of Ponystyle Industries

Lucky: “So the most recent blog-worthy thing that we have done is buy a new CAR! It is beautiful and we love it! We “named” the car lucky (c’mon you know everyone names their cars) because it was, to say the least, lucky that we were able to buy it.” -Brynn of The Dexters

Lucy: “Her car is a ’65 Ford Falcon named Shirley. Ironically, my car is named Lucy aka the Diamond in the Rust.” -Amber Von Felts of I Heart Everything

Maggie: “Just to clear up the subject on Maggie. Maggie is my car. I named her when I purchased her a few years ago. I thought that since she was a red car (oh yeah, the car is female) that entitles her to a red-head name… and Maggie sounds like a red headed person. All that came to me was an Irish gal name Maggie… so Maggie is a red head, possibly Irish and she kisses boy cars… really she does. I parked at a Wal-mart parking lot and she gave the blue chevy impala, which was parked across from us, a little peck on the lips. Thats just how she is I guess. She flirts.” -kw muah of The journal of an amateur dabbler

Marcus: “We zipped in for a rather late 1 pm brunch in Marcus (yes, our car is named Marcus and yes, he zips, not cruises)” -libbyty of The Little Bow Girl

Marty: “Marty Mazda. I named the car Marty because, well, it just wasn’t clear if he was a boy or a girl. (Even when you looked under the hood *wink* *wink*.)” -Lisa of Chick Lit is Not Dead

Max: “My mother and I are driving somewhere separately – her in the purple van and me in Max. (Sidenote: Max is my car. I named him after a male stripper named Max Steele.)” -99donuts of 99donuts

Merlot: “My new car is named MERLOT for her sparkling wine color.” -Dianne of Dianne Johnson

Moby: “We took that money and decided we wanted to buy a car outright and not have any payments. K said she didn’t really care what we got, as long as it drove nice and wasn’t a white four door. 2 weeks later, we purchased a 1996 white 4 door ford Taurus (the model that still had those ugly oval shaped back windows). On account of the shape, size, and color, we named the car Moby.” -rebb of rebb against the machine!

Molly: “My car is named Molly, after Molly Weasley. I bought the car shortly after Deathly Hallows came out and found Molly a fitting name because, like Molly, my car is little, red and feisty.” -Morgan of Becoming Rooks

Nancy: “I named the car Nancy and she became mine.” -Jess of Bowl of Bees

Pearl: “About 15 years ago, a friend of mine loaned me a string of pearls to wear to my nephew’s wedding. I liked the pearls so much my husband offered to buy me some for Christmas. Unfortunately, before Christmas, his old car, which had well over 100,000 miles on it, began developing a series of problems and it became apparent he needed a new car, which meant no expensive Christmas present. I preferred having husband drive a safe vehicle to wearing pearls to pick him up at the side of the rode when he broke down, so a new car it was. I named the car Pearl.” -Coleslaw of Word Salad

Penny: “I also recently noticed that on top me naming my heat pack Glenn, my guinea pig is named Maggie, and my car is named Penny…I’ve been naming things after Walking Dead characters even before the show aired!” -Nicole of Crippie’s Corner

Peyman: “Willie brought us the car today right after work. We couldn’t be happier to have “The Peyman” in our possession at last! We named the car Peyman after our dear friend from camp. He is a great guy and he has quite a beard… He deserves a car to be named after him!” -Sarah J Cole of FollowSarah

Phyllis Nefler: “this morning the check engine light came on in my car. stinks! phyllis nefler (our car’s name) has a few other problems and needs to go see the car doctor soon. (p.s. our car is named after the movie troop beverly hills) :)” -Amanda of The Shepard Life

Pompidou: “My car is named after the Pompidou Centre located in the heart of Paris, a building with iconic architecture of the twentieth century, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, the Pomipdou Centre opened to the public in 1977. Also the year of my birth.” -Trina of Eskimo to the World

Sacagawea: “Our car is named “Sacagawea”, because she takes us places.” -Rachel of rachelcoker

Sam: “I have a habit of giving proper names to many of the inanimate objects in my life. My car is named Sam. My first car was Burt – Burt was a wonderful car of some notoriety due to his many bumper stickers, totally un-me purple airbrushed racing stripes, the brutal-looking dent in the side where a drunk driver hit me and I never got it fixed, and the appalling among of trash accumulated inside…I was a messy 20-something. I used to have two bean bags named Clark and Aunt Bethany in college.” -Ruby Sara of Pagan Godspell

Shirley: “My car is named Shirley because my best friend’s car is named Laverne. Normally I don’t like naming things like cars.” -Kate of Leaving the Land of Cotton

Simon Templar: “I mean, my car is named Simon Templar (and there’s a sign of the Saint taped up in one of the windows, just to further reassure everyone that I am completely crazy).” -Millie of Classic Forever

Skarmory: I named the car “Skarmory”, which is the name of a Steel-type Pokemon. It was doubly appropriate since it’s a steel gray car, and the word ‘car’ is phonetically embedded in it.” -Cheryl of Twenty-Sided Woman

Sylvia: “This is my car! I named it Sylvia. Sylvia the suzuki. It’s pretty small (I wish is was smaller!) and I got it brand spannking factory new. I still have the plastic on the seats. I have yet to hit anything! Yay!” -Kait of of Adventures in Kaitland

Trails: So who’s old enough to remember Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and their farewell song “Happy Trails”? Okay, it silly, but it works! Our RV is named “Happy” and our car is named “Trails” since it trails behind us when we’re toolin’ down the road.” -Nan & Gary of Happy Trails…on the road again

Veronica: “So much that my car is named, ahem, Veronica. Yeah I have no shame.” -TiffanyD of Makeup by Tiffany D

Which of the above do you like best?

Do you have a name for your car? If so, what is it, and why did you choose it?